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The Talents of a Middle-Aged Brain

After we hit 40, many of us begin to worry about our aging brains. Will we spend our middle years searching for car keys and forgetting names?

The new book “The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind,” by Barbara Strauch, has the answers, and the news is surprisingly upbeat. Sure, brains can get forgetful as they get old, but they can also get better with age, reports Ms. Strauch, who is also the health editor at The New York Times. Ms. Strauch, who previously tackled teenage brains in her book “The Primal Teen,” spoke with me this week about aging brains and the people who have them. Here’s our conversation:

Barbara Strauch

Q.

After exploring the teenage brain, why did you decide to write a book about grown-ups?

A.

Well, I have a middle-aged brain, for one thing. When I would go give talks about “The Primal Teen,” I’d be driven to the airport or back by a middle-aged person, and they’d turn to me and say: “You should do something about my brain. My brain is suddenly horrible. I can’t remember names.” That’s why I started looking into it. I had my own middle-aged issues like going into an elevator and seeing somebody and thinking, “Who are you?”

Q.

So what’s the bad news about the middle-aged brain?

A.

Obviously, there are issues with short-term memory. There are declines in processing speed and in neurotransmitters, the chemicals in our brain. But as it turns out, modern middle age is from 40 to 65. During this long time in the middle, if we’re relatively healthy our brains may have a few issues, but on balance they’re better than ever during that period.

Q.

Do teenage brains and middle-aged brains have much in common?

A.

The thing the middle-aged brain shares with the teenage brain is that it’s still developing. It’s not some static blob that is going inexorably downhill. Scientists found that when they watched the brains of teenagers, the brains were expanding and growing and cutting back and shaping themselves, even when the kids are 25 years old. I think for many years scientists just left it at that. They thought that from 25 on, we just get “stupider.” But that’s not true. They’ve found that during this period, the new modern middle age, we’re better at all sorts of things than we were at 20.

Q.

So what kinds of things does a middle-aged brain do better than a younger brain?

A.

Inductive reasoning and problem solving — the logical use of your brain and actually getting to solutions. We get the gist of an argument better. We’re better at sizing up a situation and reaching a creative solution. They found social expertise peaks in middle age. That’s basically sorting out the world: are you a good guy or a bad guy? Harvard has studied how people make financial judgments. It peaks, and we get the best at it in middle age.

Q.

Doesn’t that make sense, since our young adult lives are often marked by bad decisions?

A.

I think most of us think that while we make bad decisions in our 20s, we also have the idea that we were the sharpest we ever were when we were in college or graduate school. People think if I tried to go to engineering school or medical school now, I couldn’t do it. Because of these memory problems that happen in middle age, we tend to think of our brains as, on the whole, worse than in our 20s. But on the whole, they’re better.

Q.

So what’s happening in middle age that leads to these improvements?

A.

What we have by middle age is all sorts of connections and pathways that have been built up in our brain that help us. They know from studies that humans and animals do better if they have a little information about a situation before they encounter it. By middle age we’ve seen a lot. We’ve been there, done that. Our brains are primed to navigate the world better because they’ve been navigating the world better for longer.

There also are some other physical changes that they can see. We used to think we lost 30 percent of our brain cells as we age. But that’s not true. We keep them. That’s probably the most encouraging finding about the physical nature of our brain cells.

Q.

Is there anything you can do to keep your brain healthy and improve the deficits, like memory problems?

A.

There’s a lot of hype in this field in terms of brain improvement. I did set out to find out what actually works and what we know. What we do with our bodies has a huge impact on our brains. Our brains are more like our hearts in that everything you do for your heart is thought to be equally as good or better for your brain. Exercise is the best studied thing you can do to your brain. It increases brain volume, produces new baby brain cells in grownup brains. Even when our muscles contract, it produces growth chemicals. Using your body can help your brain.

Q.

What about activities like learning to play an instrument or learning a foreign language?

A.

The studies on this are slim. We’ve all been told to do crossword puzzles. Learning a foreign language, walking a different way to work, all that is an effort to make the brain work hard. And it’s true we need to make our brains work hard. One of the most intriguing findings is that if you talk to people who disagree with you, that helps your brain wake up and refine your arguments and shake up the cognitive egg, which is what you want to do.

Q.

Do social connections and relationships make a difference in how the brain ages?

A.

There is a whole bunch of science about being social and how cognitive function seems to be better if you are social. There is a fascinating study in Miami where they studied people who lived in apartments. Those who had balconies where they could see their neighbors actually aged better cognitively than others. There are a whole bunch of studies like that. People who volunteer and help kids seem to age better and help their brains. We forget how difficult it is to meet, greet and deal with another human being. It’s hard on our brains and good for them.

Q.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about the middle-aged brain?

A.

The hope I saw from real scientists was surprising. A lot of the myths we think of in terms of middle age, myths that I grew up with, turn out to be based on almost nothing. Things like the midlife crisis or the empty nest syndrome. We’re brought up to think we’ll enter middle age and it will be kind of gloomy. But as scientists look at real people, they find out the contrary. One study of men found that well-being peaked at age 65. Over and over they find that middle age, instead of being a time of depression and decline, is actually a time of being more optimistic overall.

“Will we spend our middle years searching for car keys and forgetting names?”

Why not, when you did just that all through your younger years?

It is, indeed, a memory problem: but the real problem is that most people remember their younger days as far better that they actually were. Whether it’s physical aches & pains, or little mental glitches like these, they somehow forget that they’ve had them all their lives, and suddenly start to see them as signs of aging.

This starts a vicious feedback cycle: they start to listen to other people who tell them to “slow down, take it easy, act your age”, and so body & brain begin to degenerate, not from aging, but from disuse.

One of the perks of my job is that I get to see what all the top researchers are reading.

A few weeks back one particularly interesting book crossed my desk, “The Brain That Changes Itself. Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science,” by Dr. Norman Doidge.

The book is about neuroplasticity– how our brains are not static, but can change and improve, even as we age.

This excerpt really has had an impact on me:

Doidge: “Psychologically, middle age is often an appealing time because, all else being equal, it can be a relatively placid period compared with what has come before.

Our bodies aren’t changing as they did in adolescence; we’re more likely to have a solid sense of who we are and be skilled at a career.

We still regard ourselves as active, but we have a tendency to deceive ourselves into thinking that we are learning as we were before.

We rarely engage in tasks in which we must focus our attention as closely as we did when we were younger, trying to learn a new vocabulary or master new skills.

Such activities as reading the newspaper, practicing a profession of many years, and speaking our own language are mostly the replay of mastered skills, not learning.

By the time we hit our seventies, we many not have systematically engaged the systems in the brain that regulate plasticity for fifty years.

That’s why learning a new language in old age is so good for improving and maintaining the memory generally.

Because it requires intense focus, studying a new language turns on the control system for plasticity and keeps it in good shape laying down sharp memories of all kinds.

And it keeps up the production of acetylcholine and dopamine.

Anything that requires highly focused attention will help that system–learning new physical activities that require concentration, solving challenging puzzles, or making a career change that requires that you master new skills and material.”

As the owner of a middle-aged brain, I always find it nice to read these studies and articles. Unfortunately, the marketers who ignore the purchasing power of older people, the Hollywood types who create most entertainment and the people doing the laying-off and hiring all don’t care, and act in complete denial of the facts.

Unfortunately, I have quite a good memory. It is a two edged sword. As I age,so many of my prior actions seem to look worse in the funnel of hindsight. These memories may be beautiful and, yet, what is too painful to remember I wish i could simply choose to forget.

I am 48 years old and I was just mentioning to a colleague this morning, that due to prolonged unemployment, I’ve undertaken and succeeded in a number of learning and retraining endeavors in the last 4 months. Not only have I been successful in these undertakings, but I’ve been pleased to note that the learning was pleasurable, I applied myself and worked hard, had to memorize a ton of information. And in taking the courses and acquiring new skills, I’ve been able to fight back the creeping feeling I’d had that my learning days were over, and I was condemned to low-level work because my brain just wasn’t working as well as it used to. I feel very affirmed and invigorated by my success.

“After we hit 40, many of us begin to worry about our aging brains. Will we spend our middle years searching for car keys and forgetting names?”

“One study of men found that well-being peaked at age 65.”

40? Let’s not really start to worry until we reach 90. I just turned 65 last year, and am more productive–and happy–than ever. Acting in zombie movies (I make a pretty good one), supporting my wife in her career, helping my son with his project in East Africa, relishing the challenges of another son and daughters–and generally raising hell in ways I couldn’t imagine at 40.

Good fortune? Certainly. And a stroke could make things tougher. So knock on wood. But I don’t worry about the buzzards that have started roosting in the trees in the back yard. Would I be happier if I wondered why?

At 48 I’ve been really enjoying helping my son with his algebra. I’ve discovered that I can now understand it in a much more thorough way than I ever did when I took the class myself. Since I’ve always had trouble remembering where I put things and people’s names I am mostly noticing the positive effects of middle-aged brain.

Um, no, for a great many people, midlife crises, empty nest syndrome and other routine, inevitable manifestations of loss are quite real. It’s true that there is much to look forward to as we age and that too many negative myths have surrounded the process, but acknowledging the realities of neuroscience and aging doesn’t require that we deny the emotional challenges of maturation. To do so removes crucial support from those who need it.

I am 60 and I would never go back to my teens, 20s, 30s, or even the early 40s. Around 45-48 I began to understand that I had replaced guess work and status quo with wisdom. My body may be aging and becoming less capable than it was in my youth, but my brain is steadily improving.

I have always been creative and self-reliant so perhaps that helped? The fact is that since I retired beginning when I turned 50 I have learned how to code and program. I have learned how to use Maya and various other art programs. I have also learned how to make a type of lace that even when I took classes during my 30s I couldn’t manage. And I have accomplished all of this on my own without any assistance or class.

I have also learned how to live in a foreign country where English is not the language and I have learned to communicate in that language. Again, without classes.

Do I have trouble remembering names? Not really. What I have realized since during my 40’s was that more than half of the people whose names I knew were short term; meaning I had lost track of them before 3 years had passed. It had become a conscience decision to not waste time recalling the name of some one who didn’t fit into my life. It is all choice

I earned my MS 23 years ago (dropped out of a PhD program). I was out of the work force for a time with my children, yet I tried to stay up to date on new technology. After returning to work 4 years ago, I began taking online classes and have completed 7 of them. I’m starting up a small business as well. I feel my brain is basically the same in my 40s as it was in my 20s, yet I agree that I am able to cut to the chase and see the logic in various situations that would have been more challenging in my 20s. I have somewhat better impulse control now. I always misplaced my car keys, even at 19, and I’ve actually become better in this department. Over time, I learned how to compensate for my natural disorganization. I always had an excellent memory for facts, figures, names, etc.

I have a question about this article. Wait…did I just read an article? I think I had a question. Oh well, time to go get something to eat. Now were are my car keys? Have I eaten yet? Ooooo…this looks like a pretty good interview; I think I’ll read it….

OK – now I am 65, and from what I have read, it should be down-hill from here. I hope not. I still am fully engaged in my business, my husband and I travel quite a bit, and my memory, which has always been eerily good – I shock people by rembering what they ate the last time we dined with them, and I am proud of my storehouse of little-known facts. I realize that a certain wisdom has come with being older – I see problems and also possible solutions more readily, and am much more able to suspend judgement. All this is good – I just hope it stays this way.

I must agree with #5 – Hollywood seems to make movies for mostly 30- somethings (or younger), tv programming is mostly for fairlu dumb folks of any age, and advertisers think that if you are over 50, only ads for AARP, easy chairs, bladder control problems and other manifestations of age are of interest to us – ha – if they only knew!! By the way – if you are a womsn, those lost keys have fallen into the hole in your handbag that leads into the 4th dimension, where they keep those lonely single gloves company.

This topic is do much more complex than may appear if all one is concerned with is at the purely functional level of brain function measured by superficial criteria.

For example, a speedy/quick thought processor isn’t of much value without the experiential data base that, at best, we call wisdom/judgment.

Put even more simply, of what value is it to be able to run very fast if one is not sure of the direction one needs to go in to get to the desired destination.

Having the vision to understand where one wishes to be, the experiential map to guide one through thickets (while avoiding dead ends) and to find short cuts while…and the patience that often comes with age can enable an older person to to more than compete with the seemingly boundless (but unfocused and often misguided) energy of the young.

Of course there are young folk wise beyond their years and older folk who remain as foolish at fifty than they were at fifteen; but generally maturity can be beautifully Golden…..in every sense of the word!

And when I think about it, the most cognitively intact seniors (over 65) I know all walk often, stay active with others and even still work. Not too many are sitting around doing crossword puzzles. And none of them are skinny, either. I always thought that a little bit of fat was protective.

Passive reading of newspapers, etc. may not stimulate the brain, but at the age of 73, I react to news, views and errors with vehemence and cannot rest until I post a rejoinder or correction. Am happy to find them published . But if they are not, as most are, I am not unhappy.
When reading material requiring real mental activity, I am able to follow quite well, though not at the same speed as before. But when I come back to the material after a gap, I find I have to reread before following the trend. Such a waste of time.
Moreover, I get tired sooner. Maybe because I am old, not in middle age!
Nara

My enemies treated me as f..rightening brilliant at 30. They still fight me at 53. My friends like me just as I am, anyway. My brain got worse in some aspects e.g. reaction speed. As I keep trying to improve, it got better on other tasks. I think I am aging quite well. I like aging, because the only alternative to me looks so dead. I hope I will age to 100. My friends will still like me then, but they might be fewer. My enemies will almost all have stopped aging by that time. Stay healthy, my friends! As Voltaire put it: J’ai decide d’etre hereux, parce que c’est bon pour la sante. (I decided to be happy because it’s good for health.)

So what is wrong with the brains of people who end up embracing religious or political dogma as the basis of their understanding on how things work, as opposed to trying to understand how things work? An example of this is the number of engineers who are ‘creation scientists’. It seems that they never matured.

I’m 42, and I haven’t noticed any forgetting of names except for the fact that every year it seems harder to master the names of my 70 or so students each semester. I used to know their names in a couple weeks, and now it takes a month and at the end of the semester there might still be a couple I blank on in class, even though I really do know them. I haven’t decided if this is a declining brain (no other signs of that) or if I’m just making less effort and am not as obsessive about it.

I’m a scientist who studies memory, and this was a nice “feel good” story. Unfortunately, it’s at best very misleading. The brain does age, just like the heart or kidneys or other organs. This declines in brain functioning typically start in one’s 20s and is inevitable, though it can be slowed by taking care of one’s body (as the author notes). What seems to be maintained is the “mind”, or the organization of mental activities. Much of the research mentioned is research that has nothing to do with studying the brain, although using the word “brain” instead of mind seems to be much “sexier” to the masses.